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In a Bid to Fill Office Buildings, Landlords Offer Kegs and Nap Rooms

The New York TimesOctober 23, 2018

Not many people can get away with sleeping on the job. Tishman Speyer, one of New York’s largest commercial landlords, wants to change that.Last year, the company introduced Zo, a program to expand the perks offered to its tenants, including nap rooms at Rockefeller Center. “Please associate me with sleeping on the job,” said E. B. Kelly, a managing director at Tishman Speyer who oversees the effort.Hoping to lure new tenants in a sluggish market, commercial towers across the country are dangling amenities often associated with luxury apartment living, like pool tables, wine storage and golf simulators. In San Francisco, if muscles are knotted, workers can stop for a massage at tables set up in the airy lobby of 1 Bush Street, a property owned by Tishman Speyer. The back rubs are coordinated through Zo, Tishman’s intra-portfolio concierge service, which also helps find babysitters, book manicures and plan trips. Not all in the latest package of amenities are tactile: Property owners are also dangling flower arrangements for employees out sick, discounts at local shops and private medical clinics.With Zo, doing nothing is also an option. At some Tishman buildings, like Rockefeller Center, which NBC, Deloitte and Simon & Schuster call home, enrollment with the program grants access to quiet rooms where naps are encouraged. “When we first began talking about it, people would say: ‘Napping in the workplace? Are you crazy?’” said Ms. Kelly, the Tishman managing director. “But it’s been terrific,” she said, adding that Tishman tenants logged about 2,000 naps from July 2017 to July 2018 at Zo facilities in New York. “We are trying to bring a little energy and excitement to the workplace,” Ms. Kelly said, “so there’s a little beauty, joy and fun.”